The Internet Is Providing A Second Miracle For A British Skydiver Who Survived A 12,000-Foot Fall

The last time that I wrote about how ridiculously terrifying skydiving can be for some people (*points to self*), some avid skydivers chose to read it as me bashing their beloved sport. As a disclaimer for this incredible story, that’s not the case. I just prefer to not tempt the gods of gravity by jumping out of a plane when my couch is just so damned comfortable. But for those who love the sport and thrill, more power to you.

To call Ben Cornick an avid skydiver would be an understatement, as the 31-year old British man has performed more than 1,000 jumps in his life. However, his most recent jump in Fiji is one that fuels nightmares for jumpers and couch-sitters alike, as he plummeted 12,000 feet after losing control of his parachute, and struck a van at a speed of approximately 40 mph. That he’s alive to tell his story is the definition of a miracle.

This is the x-ray of one of Cornick’s legs.

And here’s the x-ray of his arm.

With no insurance, Cornick, whose first child was born just last month, was facing a $33,000 ($37,500 Australian) medical bill, an amount that would make almost any 31-year old’s head explode. Fortunately for Cornick, there were a lot of people with huge hearts that read his story, and a Facebook page was established in his honor to help raise the funds to take care of part of his bills. Except people ended up donating about $49,000 to the cause, which leaves a little extra in case of complications, as he’ll be in the hospital for at least the next three weeks.

All in all, though, it seems that Cornick and his friends are in pretty good spirits over the whole ordeal.

I thought Australia has national health coverage, or does he live somewhere else? OK, I see that this actually happened in New Zealand, which also has national health coverage. I’m guessing that you still have deductibles and whatnot to pay for, even with that coverage, but I can’t see any hospital withholding life saving surgery until the bill has been paid. This isn’t America!

OK, the news article was very poorly written. He was in Fiji, went skydiving, got all busted up, and had to be airlifted to New Zealand in order to get surgery. Most of the money went toward the 20,000 pounds spent on the airlift. He actually lives in Britian.

I guess the moral of this story is, buy travel insurance that covers repatriation costs! It’s cheap, and will prevent you from having to fundraise on Facebook. Of course, since he was skydiving, the fuckers would probably figure out a way to not cover it, but this is good advice for those of us not risking our lives while on vacation.

Well, there are actual skills involved, so you don’t die. It also pays to be physically fit, you need upper body strength to pull on those brakes. Personally, I consider it more of a hobby than a sport.